Daily Archives: May 1, 2007

Oh, Take It Bake It was such a success. I think so, anyway – I now have, in my freezer, six servings of each of the following, in the order I picked them: Megan‘s healthy-sounding-but-probably-quite-evil-given-its-deliciousness spinach pie, Alex and Claire’s triple chocolate cookie sandwiches with strawberry ice cream centers, Sarah’s macaroni and cheese (I have some of this left from last night’s tasting and I’m actually considering scooping it into balls and deep-frying it), Maggi’s adorable star-shaped molten chocolate babycakes, Noah‘s spring-celebrating asparagus-leek soup, Justin and Laura’s Indian-spiced potato-filled phyllo samosas, and (last but not least) Lucia‘s chicken marbella. My, dear freezer, how lovely you look.

Here’s a salad I made for the party, inspired by a giant package of Point Reyes Blue Cheese that my in-laws sent us as a surprise this week, because they know how we cling to the stench of good dairy in this house. It looks like a sloppy, wet tangle of red, but the flavors of beet, pickled red onions, roasted walnuts, parsley, and the blue cheese make for one tasty salad.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wrap the beets in foil and roast them on a baking sheet for 60 to 90 minutes, or until soft through to the center when you poke them with a skewer or a small, sharp knife.

While the beets roast, mix the sliced onion with the vinegar, salt, and some pepper in a small bowl and let sit, stirring every 15 minutes or so to redistribute the onions in the vinegar.

When the beets are done and cool enough to handle, peel them and slice them into thin wedges, and transfer them to a serving bowl.

Add the onion mixture and the olive oil, toss to combine, and let sit until the beets cool to room temperature. Before serving, stir in the walnuts, blue cheese, and parsley, and season with additional salt and pepper, if necessary.